Universal Horror Movie posters and Lobby cards from the 30s and 40s seem to be the most highly valued for collectors of original movie posters. The major auction houses have turned up some wonderful posters over the years and every major auction seems to include significant posters from the Universal era. In recent times we have seen US posters and lobby cards on:

 

Dracula

Frankenstein

Bride of Frankenstein

Invisible Man

etc etc

 

Despite the fact that they are obviously very rare and the prices are high, you can at least find some US paper on some of the key Universal titles. One example is a set of Frankenstein lobby cards that has been offered recently for a million dollars. Although the price may be a little "tongue in cheek", at least this shows that the material is out there if you have the money.

 

I have been a dealer for many years now and have had some highly significant collections of Australian movie posters pass through my hands. I consigned one collection to Christies in 1998 and it included Australian posters for titles like Ghost of Frankenstein and House of Dracula. It turns out that these two are just about the only Universal Horror daybills of any significance that I have come across.

 

I understand that one dealer sold a daybill for Frankenstein about 15 years ago, supposedly for $25,000.00 but I have never heard of anything on Dracula ever appearing.

 

Hammer has announced the release of a series of repro British quads posters from some of their classic Horror films from the 50s to the 70s. Titles include Curse of Frankenstein, Countess Dracula, Vampire Circus and culminating with the release of Dracula in 2008 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the film.

 

Now that all sounds fine but there has been considerable discussion and concern on some of the forums and various other sites about the fact that the posters will be almost exact replicas to the originals with little or no identifying marks on the front of the posters.

 

Part of the publicity for these posters states:

 

  

I would have thought that the sensible approach would have been to include some identifying mark on the front of the poster which would clearly indicate that it was a repro without detracting from the image. Perhaps they could have included the date, or a notation that the poster was an officially authorised Hammer reproduction. Apparently, they may have a stamp on the back but no mark at all on the front.

 

Collectors would be well aware that many hundreds of reproduction posters have been sold on internet auctions as original. Many are deliberate attempts to deceive whilst others are simply an example of a lack of knowledge from the seller. One striking example has been various Portal reproduction posters that were printed about 30 years ago. Although these are not the size of the standard movie posters, they still get misprepresented on a regular basis, despite the fact that many have the name "Portal" on the base of the poster and sometimes the zip code.

 

The Portal posters are often described in terms such as...

 

  

Many dealers over the years have cringed as they see these repros sell for huge prices to unsuspecting buyers.

 

Well now, Hammer will be producing replica British Quads. I wonder how many will eventually turn up on eBay or other sites represented as originals. Unscrupulous sellers might fold them, and perhaps remove the stamp from the back, throw in a few pinholes and add some writing on the back to make them look original. They could also linen back them and, although I havent actually touched the repros, I imagine that it might be difficult to tell the difference between the repros and the originals once they have been backed. Goodness knows, they might even start turning up at major auctions.

 

I suppose Hammer have the right to do what they like when producing these quads but surely they could have added a date to the poster without detracting from the quality.

 

Let me know what you think.

 

Regards

 

John

I recently watched an episode of an English TV series, an antiques show on the Lifestyle cable channel with David Dickinson, that was absolutely sickening in illustrating how a collector can take the wrong advice and end up having a valuable collection sold for a pittance.

 

The show featured an elderly cricket fan who had amassed a huge collection of signatures and memorabilia from County and Test players over a 40 year period. He had travelled to all of the venues in England and painstakingly sought out virtually every player who had played county cricket for Yorkshire and one or two other counties. He also had cricket bats signed by entire teams and a cricket ball signed in gold pen by each member of the Yorkshire cricket team.

 

He entrusted his collection to David Dickinson to sell at an auction that would be featured on his TV show. One of the common mistakes that people make when trying to sell a specialised collection is to consign their prized possessions to a general auctioneer. In this case the auctioneer sold antiques and bric a braq and although they were reputable and well known with a strong clientele they were in no way specialists in autographs or cricket memorabilia.

 

I watched as the collection was broken up into lots. That was OK. Each piece had a value in its own right and it was certainly better to auction each item individually rather than the collection as one lot. However, I started to feel that something ominous might happen when estimates of 32 pounds were placed on each Lot.

 

From what I saw, the collection was a significant historical cricketing record - irreplaceable and unique, something that a serious collector of cricket memorabilia would view as a jewel in their collection. I would have valued the collection conservatively at around $5,000.00 as a lot and would have offerred something in that region if it had been offerred to me.

 

I really felt for the collector as the auction started and each lot barely reached the estimate of 32 pounds. The entire collection struggled to achieve about $500.00 or $600.00 with commission to be taken out. The poor collector put on a brave face for the cameras and David Dickinson made some attempt to lighten up the proceedings but the fact is that the collector must have been absolutely devastated to have seen his lifelong collection disintegrate in value before his eyes.

 

In my view, David Dickinson's actions in allowing this collection to be sold at a general auction were reprehensible. The placement of this collection in a general auction was a recipe for disaster. Dickinson did not profess to have any knowledge of the value of the collection but he would surely have known that a collection of this type should have been placed in a specialist auction, perhaps one of the Christies sporting memorabilia auctions or cricket auctions or even an auction house that specialised in autographs. Perhaps that would not have fitted into his TV format.

 

I have often seen movie memorabilia sell very cheaply because it has been misplaced in a general auction. There have been many stories where collections have been picked up by antique dealers who have little or no knowledge of movie memorabilia. I have heard some horror stories where antique dealers have picked up valuable collections for a miniscule amount based on the fact that they know very little about movie posters.

 

There is an ethical question in these cases. If a dealer, like David Dickinson, comes across a collection that is outside his field of expertise he surely should direct the owner of the collection to a specialist rather than make an attempt to offer "specialist advice" that could lead to disaster.

 

As a dealer in movie memorabilia, I have a working knowledge of the value of collections and will make an offer based on that knowlege. In many cases, I have offered close to retail prices for collections. It always makes sense for anyone who intends to sell movie posters or autographs to sell them through a specialist.

 

As a collector, I found this program very hard to watch. I would hate to think that my collection would end up in a general auction or being sold to an antique gallery for a pittance. I can just imagine some sleazy dealer viewing the lifetime collection and making a paltry offer with comments like "Theres not much call for this stuff". I know of at least one person who inherited a small collection of posters that included The Lady Vanishes, 39 Steps and Casablanca. He had no idea of value but took the box to a local antique dealer who offered $100.00 for the lot. The funny thing is that the owner of the collection might have taken $500.00 at the time but thought $100.00 was a bit too low. He eventually ended up selling the posters off gradually for many thousands.

 

So, if you intend to sell your collection of movie or sporting memorabilia I would be extremely careful about who you choose to consign it to.